George's Dragon at the Fire Station

by Claire Freedman, Russell Julian (Illustrator)

George and his pet dragon, Sparky, return for another adventure in this funny new picture book from the author of Aliens Love Underpants. Open Day at the fire station turns into chaos when George takes along Sparky. Clumsy as always, Sparky gets stuck sliding down the fireman's pole, sends a fire bucket flying, and steps on the hose during a firefighting demonstration. But when a call comes in for a real emergency Sparky is able to save the day - and a scared cat from a tree - by flying to Fluffy's rescue!

32 pages, Paperback

First published August 7, 2014

About the author

I’ve been a writer for over 15 years now, but it wasn’t planned!

I had a variety of jobs, including secretary, trainee buyer at Harrods, dental nurse, production assistant in a reprographic and printing company and various others.

I began to write after joining a creative writing class. I had no success with article writing, or short stories, or fiction, but the first children’s story I wrote, for a magazine called Twinkle, was accepted for publication. Hooray!!!

Things snowballed and a lot (yes lots and lots) of hard work later I now write full time and have over 50 books published. I still go to the same writing class and we have become a big happy family of writers!

For me, writing is the best job ever. I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else. I love to create worlds for young children to enjoy and escape into – whether the stories are educational, bedtime, problem solving or just plain good fun. It’s also very exciting to see the first picture roughs, as my wonderful, talented illustrators bring the text to life.

I live on the Essex coast in a lovely two-bed-roomed flat, which I share with my husband, Michael. At long last I have an office to write in, with room for all my books and bits of scribbled on papers.

The seafront is (still) just around the corner, and I find a bracing walk (it gets freezing when the East wind blows from the North Sea!) or gentle stroll when the weather is warmer, is great for clearing my head and mulling over story ideas.

- excerpted from her website

Reviews

[Emma]

This story could be enjoyed by FS and KS1 children as it’s very colourful and shows the adventures when Sparky the dragon goes to a fire station open day and even saves a cat who was stuck in a tree. It would be a good class story to read before or after lunch as it’s quite short.

[Igor]

Nice drawing. The story was weak. My lost did not enjoy much.

[Theo]

Refused to read the dragon's bit out loud.

Jan 2025: Theo chose this in nursery again!